One-Click Buy: May Harlequin Blaze

Did Cara Summers always dream of becoming a writer? Absolutely not!

At the age of six, she wanted to become the next Mother Teresa. At eight, her goal was to become a P.I. and drive a car just like Nancy Drew's. In junior high, her interests shifted to science, and she believed that brain surgery was in her future. Then in high school and college, she threw herself into the performing arts and set her sights on a career as a Broadway musical comedy star!

Falling in love and getting married caused her to modify those plans somewhat, and she decided a teaching certificate and a steady paycheck might come in handy. It wasn't until she was sharing most of her waking hours with two little boys under the age of three that she thought of writing (or perhaps moving to a private room in a nice quiet mental hospital).

It was Cara's mom who saved her sanity by handing her a romance novel and saying, "Why don't you try this?"

She did, and it started her thinking. Hadn't her sixth-grade teacher told her what a good writer she was? And there was the award she'd won from the Detroit News for a short, short story she wrote when she was 16....

Was Cara instantly successful in achieving her new dream of becoming a published writer? Absolutely not! It wasn't until she'd battled her way through her fourth romance novel that she made her first sale to Harlequin Temptation.

Ten books later, is Cara happy with her new career? Absolutely! (It's only on the days when her characters are giving her trouble that she wonders if maybe brain surgery would be easier.)

Cara lives in upstate New York with her three sons. When she isn't writing, she teaches in the Writing Program at Syracuse University and at a community college near her home. Her current hobbies are reading, running, and in-line skating. You can write to her at P.O. Box 327, Dewitt, NY 13214.

Bestselling Harlequin author Joanne Rock writes sexy contemporary romances and medieval historicals that have been reprinted in 22 countries and translated into 16 languages. A Golden Heart winner and RITA nominated author, Joanne has been recognized with numerous writing awards including a Blue Boa, a Beacon and a Romantic Times W.I.S.H. Award. A former college teacher and public relations coordinator, she has a master's in English from the University of Louisville and started writing when she became a stay-at-home mom, deceiving herself that she'd have more time. 20 books and three kids later, she lives with her husband and sons in the Adirondacks, committed to mass chaos and happily-ever-afters. Visit Joanne at: http://joannerock.com.

Award-winning author and screenwriter Jo Leigh began her career in 1975 as a reader in the Comedy Development department for 20th-Century Fox. She left Fox in 1977 to go on location with The Deer Hunter. She then worked as an auditor, associate producer, and producer on such projects as When She Says No for CBS, Beulah Land for NBC, Great American Traffic Jam for NBC and Clan of the Cave Bear for Jozak Productions. In 1987 she became head of development for the McCarron Film Corp., overseeing a roster of 12 feature films.As a screenwriter, she's had a series idea purchased by Cinemax, and has worked as a script consultant on more than 50 screenplays. Currently, her screenplay Apache Tears is in development with Northern Lights Productions in Canada.Jo also teaches writing in two-day workshops across the country, and is a frequent guest speaker at writing conferences. Her tape on Advanced Plotting from the Dallas Romance Writers of America conference is the bestselling tape in RWA's history.Her first Silhouette novel, Suspect, was awarded Best First Series Book by Romantic Times Magazine, garnered the 1994 Romance Writer of the Year award from Pike's Peak RWA, and was a finalist for Best Romantic Suspense Novel of 1994 by Romance Writers of America.Her first Temptation novel, One Wicked Night, was a finalist for Best Short Contemporary Novel of 1998 by Romance Writers of America.She also ghostwrote Great Big Beautiful Doll—; The Anna Nicole Smith Story for Barricade Books.Jo currently writes for Harlequin American, Harlequin Temptation, Harlequin Intrigue, and Harlequin special series. She lives in Nevada with her three enormous cats, Zeke, Coco, and Molly. You can reach her at her website: www.joleigh.com

Isabel Sharpe was not born with a pen in her hand like many of her fellow authors. Far from starting early on a writing career, she got her B.A. in music from Yale and a masters in vocal performance from Boston University. In 1994, motherhood rescued her from a fledgling career in fund-raising for which she was vastly unsuited. Searching to keep herself stimulated while at home with a demanding infant, she took the plunge into writing romance. Her first attempt was an unpublishable mess, but she was hooked.

Isabel's first book came out in December 2000. Since then she has sold numerous books to Harlequin for the Duets, Temptation and Blaze series and the Signature Select collections, in addition to Online Reads for eHarlequin.com. Isabel has been a member of Romance Writers of America since 1996. She was a 1998 Golden Heart Finalist and a 2003 Rita finalist in Short Contemporary. Isabel lives in Wisconsin with two sons and two cats. She spends her too-few leisure hours reading, cooking or working out so she can eat more of what she cooks.